SH16 Brigham Creek to Waimauku

State Highway 16 between Brigham Creek and Waimauku is classified as a high-risk rural road for a reason. Four people have died and 30 have been seriously injured between 2006 and 2015. Over a third of these crashes were caused by drivers losing control and running off the road or crossing the centreline and hitting an oncoming vehicle.

Something has to change. We understand this road is an important link. Over 30,000 vehicles a day use the route between Brigham Creek and Kumeu, and 15,000 vehicles a day between Huapai and Waimauku. With vehicle numbers increasing we urgently need to make safety and capacity improvements before more people lose their lives.

To make SH16 safer, we’re looking at making these improvements:

• Putting in flexible road safety barriers to catch drivers who leave their lane before hitting something harder like trees, poles, ditches or other vehicles. Flexible barriers will be installed along the road except between Taupaki and Kumeu.
• Adding extra lanes between Brigham Creek and Taupaki roundabout (four lanes, two in each direction) to help improve travel times in the short-term, ahead of a longer term project to reduce hold-ups on this road.
• Putting in a flush median, which is a painted area in the middle of the road to give you more room and a safe place to wait before turning, while traffic can continue to flow.
• Building a roundabout at the SH16/Coatesville Riverhead Highway intersection to help traffic flow better and make it safer to turn.
• Between Huapai and Waimauku, we are considering a safer and more appropriate speed, widening bridges that are too narrow and making it safer to turn into Foster, Station and Factory Roads.
• Creating a two-metre wide road shoulder so there’s more space for people who cycle.

You can take a look at the project map here [PDF, 270 KB].

The focus of this project is to improve safety in the short term, ahead of other long term projects that need a lot more time for consenting and planning processes. This project is the first part of a bigger package of work aimed at addressing growth and congestion in Auckland’s North West. This programme of work is called Supporting Growth.